Flutist, interdisciplinary artist, and educator Claire Chase, accompanied by JACK Quartet, will premiere a new Stanford Live-commissioned piece by the minimalist composer Terry Riley.
Stanford’s 2024 spring and summer quarter guest artists
Comedian Zarna Garg, the rapper Blxst, and Tony-winner David Henry Hwang, ’79, who will deliver the Rathbun Lecture on a Meaningful Life, are just a few of the artists who will share their work with the Stanford community in the coming months.
This season’s roster includes celebrated alumni and favorite performers from years past, as well as several artists making a splash with their first shows on the Farm.
Among the repeat guests is Canadian puppeteer Ronnie Burkett, who returns to Bing Studio with a new Stanford Live-commissioned work, Wonderful Joe, examining the feelings of isolation and loneliness. The JACK Quartet, last seen with the St. Lawrence String Quartet, premieres a new Stanford Live-commissioned piece with flutist Claire Chase. In the latest installment of the What Makes It Great? series, Rob Kapilow examines the original and seldom-performed jazz band version of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. The third-generation puppeteer and object theater artist Basil Twist is back with a new collaboration production with Chinese-born American composer Huang Ruo. Titled Book of Mountains and Seas, it is a modern take on ancient Chinese creation myths, first transcribed in the 4th century BC, and strikingly relevant to the current struggle with climate change.
Alums returning to the farm are this year’s Denning Visiting Artist Janani Balasubramanian, ’12, who presents The Gift, an immersive installation that animates contemporary astrophysics research to open up metaphorical space for grief, care, and renewal. Doerr School of Sustainability Visiting Artist Mark Baugh-Sasaki, ’17, is working with the oceans department at Stanford’s Hopkins Marine Station to create a new work celebrating Woods Institute for the Environment’s 20th anniversary in the fall. And David Henry Hwang, ’79, will deliver this year’s Rathbun Lecture on a Meaningful Life. Hwang co-founded Stanford’s Asian-American Theater Project and has written for theater, film, television, and opera. He is best known as the author of M. Butterfly, which won the 1988 Tony, Drama Desk, John Gassner, and Outer Critics Circle Awards and was a finalist for the 1989 Pulitzer Prize.
Two first-timers to watch out for next time – because their performances sold out almost immediately this spring – are Indian mom comedian Zarna Garg and Gen Z jazz singing star Samara Joy. Both included Stanford on their international tours.
See who else is on campus this spring and summer and watch for updates.
BEHZOD ABDURAIMOV
Renowned pianist Behzod Abduraimov performs a program with violinist Daniel Lozakovich featuring Franck, Schumann, and Beethoven.
Performance April 19
Hosted by Stanford Live
LITA ALBUQUERQUE
Since the early 1970s, Lita Albuquerque has created an expansive body of work, ranging from sculpture, poetry, painting, and multi-media performance to ambitious site-specific ephemeral projects in remote locations around the globe. Often associated with the Light and Space and Land Art movements, Albuquerque has developed a unique visual and conceptual vocabulary using the earth, color, the body, motion, and time to illuminate identity as part of the universal. Her solo exhibition at the Anderson Collection in on view March 27 to August 18.
Lecture April 24
Hosted by Anderson Collection
ARS NOVA COPENHAGEN
Ars Nova Copenhagen, a 12-piece vocal ensemble founded in 1979, is widely recognized as one of the world’s finest of its kind. It specializes in interpreting the polyphonic choral music of the Renaissance and new vocal music. Ars Nova is also building collaborations with creative artists in different fields, such as drama, film, and ballet, as well as cultivating new modes of concert performance and innovative repertoire. The Stanford production of Book of Mountains and Seas is a collaboration with Chinese-born American composer Huang Ruo and puppeteer and theater artist Basil Twist.
Performances April 6 & 7
Hosted by Stanford Live
JANANI BALASUBRAMANIAN, ’12
Denning Visiting Artist Janani Balasubramanian, ’12, practices across immersive media, conceptual art, and literary work and in long-term collaborations with scientists, inviting deeper connections with nonhuman worlds while nurturing social imagination for care, complexity, and play. At Stanford, Balasubramanian presents The Gift, an immersive installation that animates contemporary astrophysics research to open up metaphorical space for grief, care, and renewal.
2024 winter-spring residency
Installation May 1
Hosted by Department of Electrical Engineering, Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Office for Religious and Spiritual Life, Office of the Vice President for the Arts, Physics Department, Stanford Compression Forum, with funding from the Stanford Visiting Artist Fund in Honor of Roberta Bowman Denning
STEVEN BANKS
As a performer and composer, saxophonist Steven Banks strives to bring his instrument to the heart of classical music. He is driven to program and write music that directly addresses aspects of the human experience and is an active and intentional supporter of diverse voices in the future of concert music. He performs at Stanford with the St. Lawrence.
Performance May 12
Hosted by Stanford Live
MARK BAUGH-SASAKI, ’17
Mark Baugh-Sasaki is a San Francisco-based interdisciplinary artist whose practice focuses on our connection to place through embedded narratives in both the built and the natural landscape. He received his BFA in 2004 from Carnegie Mellon University and his MFA in 2017 from Stanford. Baugh-Sasaki is working with the Doerr School’s Oceans Department at the Stanford Hopkins Marine Station to create a new work celebrating the Woods Institute for the Environment’s 20th anniversary in the fall.
2024 residency
Hosted by Doerr School of Sustainability
BLXST
Rapper and singer Blxst has over 2.5 billion career streams and has collaborated with YG, Mozzy, Snoop Dog, Nas, and more. He has been identified as an artist to watch as he ushers in a new era for West Coast culture and hip-hop. He headlines Stanford’s Frost Music & Arts Festival.
Performance May 18
Hosted by Stanford Concert Network, Stanford Live
RONNIE BURKETT
Canadian puppeteer Ronnie Burkett returns with a new Stanford Live-commissioned work, Wonderful Joe, examining the feelings of isolation and loneliness. In a dark and poetic yet magical story, Wonderful Joe and his dog, Mister, go on a fantastic journey into the world in search of home.
Performances May 1–4
Hosted by Stanford Live
GUNHILD CARLING
Swedish jazz star Gunhild Carling plays multiple instruments, sings, and dances. At Stanford, she is the special guest of the Count Basie Orchestra, directed by Scotty Barnhart.
Concert July 14
Hosted by Stanford Live
CLAIRE CHASE
Claire Chase is a gifted flutist, interdisciplinary artist, and educator passionate about elevating the creations of composers of this generation. She has given the world premieres of hundreds of new works with her trademark grace and thoughtful execution. Accompanied by the JACK Quartet at Stanford, she will premiere a new Stanford Live-commissioned piece by the minimalist composer Terry Riley.
Performance May 8
Hosted by Stanford Live
ALEX E. CHAVEZ
El Centro Chicano y Latino is collaborating with Stanford Live on its annual Social Justice Commemoration at Stanford. This year’s invited artists and performers are the band Quetzal, with a guest performance by longtime collaborator, scholar, and musician Dr. Alex E. Chavez, lead vocals and percussion.
Performance April 13
Hosted by El Centro Chicano y Latino, Stanford Live
JUDE CHEHAB
Jude Chehab is an award-winning Lebanese American filmmaker whose cinematic interests have drawn her to the exploration of the esoteric, the spiritual, and the unspoken.
Screening and discussion April 11
Hosted by Department of Art and Art History, Documentary Film and Video, Film and Media Studies
COUNT BASIE ORCHESTRA
The Count Basie Orchestra, directed by Scotty Barnhart, has won every respected jazz poll in the world at least once, won 18 Grammy Awards, performed for kings, queens, and other world royalty, appeared in several movies, television shows, and at every major jazz festival and major concert hall in the world.
Concert July 14
Hosted by Stanford Live
ALEX CUBA
Cuban Canadian singer-songwriter Alex Cuba draws his influences from the Latin and African music of his Cuban roots. His heady mix of Afro-Cuban jazz, funk, and pop is underpinned by sanguine melodies, soul-tinged hooks, and a romantic story or two.
Performances May 10
Hosted by Stanford Live
DABIN
Dabin is a music producer and instrumentalist originally from Toronto. Having spent his teens learning to play the piano, drums, and guitar, Dabin started producing electronic music in 2011. He has gained hundreds of millions of plays while refining his musical style into what it is today.
Performances April 27 & 28
Hosted by Stanford Live
LAUREN DAIGLE
Lauren Daigle is a two-time Grammy, seven-time Billboard Music, four-time American Music, and 12-time GMA Dove Music Award winner. She has garnered over a billion streams and wowed crowds for years with sold-out U.S. and international tours. Daigle continues to cement her status as a modern vocal powerhouse with a huge global fanbase.
Performance August 29
Hosted by Stanford Live
DOM DOLLA
Dom Dolla’s signature style of house music is connecting with global audiences, and he is recognized as one of the most exciting producers in electronic music. Dolla had a breakout year in 2019 following the release of Take It, a critically acclaimed club hit.
Performance June 22
Hosted by Stanford Live
KEVIN DUBLIN
Kevin Dublin is a San Francisco-based educator, advocate, and writer of poetry, prose, scripts, and code from Smithfield, North Carolina. He was a recipient of the San Francisco Guaranteed Income Pilot for Artists, which distributed $1,000 a month to 130 artists living in San Francisco for a period of 18 months. At Stanford, he will participate in a conversation about alternative economies for artists in conjunction with the exhibition Day Jobs at the Cantor.
Conversation May 23
Hosted by Cantor Arts Center
JOHN FOGERTY
As founder of Creedence Clearwater Revival, John Fogerty’s career spans 50 years and he is hailed as one of the most influential musicians in rock history. As the writer, singer, and producer of numerous classic hits, Fogerty is a Grammy winner honored as one of the 100 Greatest Guitarists, 100 Greatest Songwriters, and 100 Greatest Singers by Rolling Stone magazine. Currently on a worldwide Celebration Tour, Fogerty is performing his classic songs with his two sons for the first time since gaining ownership of his catalog of songs, which have resonated with fans for over five decades.
Concert August 31
Hosted by Stanford Live
AMY FREED
American playwright Amy Freed is the author of Shrew!, The Monster Builder, Restoration Comedy, The Beard of Avon, Freedomland, Safe in Hell, The Psychic Life of Savages, You, Nero, and other plays. She is a recipient of the Charles MacArthur Playwriting Award (D.C.) and the New York Arts Club’s Joseph Kesserling Award; a several-times winner of the LA Critics Circle Award and the Bay Area Critics Circle Award; and a Pulitzer Prize finalist.
Ongoing residency
Hosted by Department of Theater and Performance Studies
ZARNA GARG
Zarna Garg is One in a Billion, and that’s not the just name of her first comedy special. She’s also the only Indian mom comedian taking on her mother-in-law. She was recently profiled as one of the gutsiest women in comedy on Apple TV’s new Gutsy Women series and featured on This American Life with Ira Glass. She is touring the world with her show when she’s not doing 15 shows a week at Comedy Cellar in New York City. She is the winner of Kevin Hart’s Lyft Comics and the 2021 Ladies of Laughter Award. She has over a million followers across social media platforms.
Performances May 11 & 12
Hosted by Stanford Live
BONNIE GARMUS
Bonnie Garmus is a copywriter and creative director who has worked widely in the fields of technology, medicine, and education. She is also the author of Lessons in Chemistry, a No. 1 global bestseller and winner of several national and international awards.
Lecture May 2
Hosted by Clayman Institute for Gender Research; Graduate School of Education; Program in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; Stanford Storytelling Project
VIRGINIA GRISE
At Stanford, playwright and producer Virginia Grise chronicles the process of adapting Helena María Viramontes’ epic novel Their Dogs Came with Them in a medium-security women’s prison. She will also speak about her recent collaboration with musician Martha Gonzalez, a concept album and concert titled Riding the Currents of the Wilding Wind. The lecture and stage reading will be interwoven with excerpts from the novel and songs from the album.
Lecture and stage reading April 9
Hosted by African and African American Studies; Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity; Center for Latin American Studies; Creative Writing Program; Department of English; Department of Theater and Performance Studies; El Centro Chicano y Latino; Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; Program in Modern Thought and Literature; Stanford Arts Institute
KARINA GUTIÉRREZ
Karina Gutiérrez, PhD ’20, is a director, dramaturg, and scholar who considers theater a powerful space for social change and community mending, healing, and restoring.
2024 spring residency
Hosted by Department of Theater and Performance Studies
DAVID HENRY HWANG, ’79
David Henry Hwang, ’79, is the 2024 Rathbun Visiting Fellow and will offer the Rathbun Lecture on a Meaningful Life in Memorial Church. Hwang co-founded Stanford’s Asian American Theater Project and has written for theater, film, television, and opera. He is best known as the author of M. Butterfly, which won the 1988 Tony, Drama Desk, John Gassner, and Outer Critics Circle awards and was a finalist for the 1989 Pulitzer Prize.
Student-only masterclass April 12
Lecture April 12
Hosted by Asian American Theater Project, Asian American Activities Center, Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity, Department of Theater and Performance Studies, Office for Religious and Spiritual Life
FADY JOUDAH
Fady Joudah is a Palestinian American poet, translator, essayist, and physician. He is the author of six collections of poems, most recently the enigmatically titled […], published by Milkweed Editions in March 2024.
Reading April 5
Hosted by Stanford Humanities Center
IL POMO D’ORO
Founded in 2012 by Giulio D’Alessio and Gesine Lübben, Il Pomo d’Oro swiftly established itself as an ensemble of outstanding quality. It performs Beyond with Polish countertenor Jakub Jósef Orliński. Beyond features music by Monteverdi, Caccini, Frescobaldi, Kapsberger, Saracini, Netti, Jarzębski, and other early Baroque composers.
Performance April 14
Hosted by Stanford Live
JACK QUARTET
Since its founding in 2005, JACK Quartet has been introducing audiences worldwide to a range of experimental chamber music by 20th- and 21st-century composers. At Stanford, JACK Quartet will premiere a new Stanford Live-commissioned piece with flutist Claire Chase by the minimalist composer Terry Riley.
Performance May 8
Hosted by Stanford Live
SAMARA JOY
Rising star Samara Joy puts her velvety, smooth voice to enchanting interpretations of jazz standards from the Great American Songbook. After winning the 2019 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition at the age of 19, the Bronx born and raised singer released her debut album, Samara Joy. On her Grammy Award-winning album Linger Awhile, the 23-year-old makes her case to join the likes of Sarah, Ella, and Billie as the next jazz singing sensation recorded by the venerable Verve Records.
Performance May 22
Hosted by Stanford Live
ROB KAPILOW
As part of Rob Kapilow’s What Makes It Great? series, he and pianist Elizabeth Schumann present Rhapsody in Blue, George Gershwin’s most famous composition and a defining piece of the American Jazz Age. Almost no one has heard the original 1924 version for piano and jazz band. Dramatically different from the orchestral piece we know today, it was written for Paul Whiteman’s jazz band and features highly unusual instrumentation. Come hear the original composition and dive into the fascinating story of a piece that marked a new era of American music.
Performance April 25
Hosted by Stanford Live
CHRISTOPHER KEADY
Christopher Keady is the associate director of music at San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral, where he serves as principal accompanist for the Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys and frequently performs on the cathedral’s Alexander Memorial Organ.
Concert April 17
Hosted by Department of Music, Office for Religious and Spiritual Life
ALISON KRAUSS
Rock legend Robert Plant and acclaimed bluegrass artist Alison Krauss perform at Frost Amphitheater. Plant and Krauss share a maverick spirit and willingness to extend the boundaries of their respective genres. The duo is set to perform their greatest hits from their award-winning albums Raising Sand and Raise the Roof.
Performance August 22
Hosted by Stanford Live
JULIEN LABRO
Julien Labro has established himself as the foremost accordion and bandoneón player in both the classical and jazz genres. He performs a program with Takács Quartet featuring music from Labro, Dessner, Bach, Ravel, and more.
Performance April 21
Hosted by Stanford Live
BRUCE LIU
Bruce Liu is an extraordinary pianist whose international reputation soared in 2021 when he won first prize at the 18th Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw. Since then, he has toured the world, sharing a spellbinding synthesis of his myriad cultural and artistic inspirations. His tender, attentive approach lends to an impressive range of expression and poignant articulation.
Performance May 28
Hosted by Stanford LIve
LOS ANGELES MASTER CHORALE
Peter Sellars, Grant Gershon, and singers of the Los Angeles Master Chorale reunite at Stanford with a deeply personal meditation on what it means to say goodbye in times of struggle in Music to Accompany a Departure. The luminous music of the Baroque composer Heinrich Schütz inspires this ceremony of remembrance and devotion.
Performance April 26
Hosted by Stanford Live
DANIEL LOZAKOVICH
Violinist Daniel Lozakovich performs a program with pianist Behzod Abduraimov featuring Franck, Schumann, and Beethoven.
Performance April 19
Hosted by Stanford Live
CARMEN MARIA MACHADO
Carmen Maria Machado’s writing defies and blends genres such as surrealism, fantasy, and horror to create writing that is so palpable it seems alive. Her work has been compared to that of Shirley Jackson, Kelly Link, and Angela Carter, but with a voice that is uniquely her own.
Reading May 1
Hosted by Creative Writing Program
MANCHESTER COLLECTIVE
United Kingdom-based Manchester Collective and South African cellist Abel Selaocoe perform Sirocco, a celebration of folk traditions from around the world. Expect a bristling, high-energy performance with a program that weaves between African music, Danish folk songs, and classical music.
Performance April 13
Hosted by Stanford Live
ADAM MANSBACH
Adam Mansbach is a novelist, screenwriter, cultural critic, and humorist. His novels include The End of the Jews; Angry Black White Boy, which is taught at over a hundred schools and was adapted into a prize-winning stage play in 2008; and his most recent bestseller, The Golem of Brooklyn.
Conversation April 17
Hosted by Taube Center for Jewish Studies
DONNY MCCASLIN
Donny McCaslin, saxophonist, composer, and bandleader, has released a dozen albums over his genre-defying, Grammy-nominated career. He performs with the Stanford Jazz Orchestra.
Performance May 14
Hosted by Department of Music
TIONA NEKKIA MCCLODDEN
Tiona Nekkia McClodden takes an interdisciplinary approach as a visual artist, filmmaker, and curator to interrogate ideas of ritual and order through their relationship to identity and the conditions of being human. Traversing documentary film, experimental video, sculpture, sound installation, and poetry, her practice explores themes of Black interiority, biomythography, and queer poetics.
Lecture May 9
Hosted by Department of Art and Art History
MILOŠ
MILOŠ is one of the world’s most celebrated classical guitarists. His career began in 2011 with the release of his international best-selling Deutsche Grammophon debut album Mediterraneo. Since then, he has earned legions of fans, awards, and acclaim around the world through his extensive touring, recordings, and television appearances. At Stanford, he and the Les Violons du Roy ensemble explore an expansive chamber orchestra repertoire with a skillful faithfulness to the period of each work.
Performance May 5
Hosted by Stanford Live
JAKUB JÓZEF ORLIŃSKI
Polish countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński has surged to the heights of the international classical music scene. He performs Beyond at Stanford with the ensemble Il Pomo d’Oro. Beyond features music by Monteverdi, Caccini, Frescobaldi, Kapsberger, Saracini, Netti, Jarzębski, and other early Baroque composers.
Performance April 14
Hosted by Stanford Live
PHILHARMONIA BAROQUE ORCHESTRA
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra presents audiences throughout the world with historically informed performances of music from the Baroque, Classical, and Early Romantic periods, as well as new music, using period instruments and vocal techniques that capture the style, spirit, and distinctive sound of that time. The Stanford performance of works by Mendelssohn and Beethoven features violinist Shunske Sato.
Performance April 12
Hosted by Stanford Live
ISAIAH PHILLIPS
Isaiah Phillips is a hip-hop artist whose work focuses on coping with loss and striving for self-actualization as a Black man in America.
2023-24 residency
Hosted by Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity, Institute for Diversity in the Arts as part of the Mellon Arts Fellowship Program
ROBERT PLANT
Rock legend Robert Plant and acclaimed bluegrass artist Alison Krauss perform at Frost Amphitheater. Plant and Krauss share a maverick spirit and willingness to extend the boundaries of their respective genres. The duo is set to perform their greatest hits from their award-winning albums Raising Sand and Raise the Roof.
Performance August 22
Hosted by Stanford Live
STEPHEN PRUTSMAN
Stephen Prutsman has been described as one of the most innovative musicians of his time. Moving easily from classical to jazz to world music styles as a pianist, composer and conductor, Prutsman continues to explore and seek common ground and relationships in the music of all cultures and languages.
Ongoing residency
Hosted by Department of Music
RODRIGO REYES
Rodrigo Reyes, a filmmaker who is deeply grounded in his immigrant identity, uses striking imagery to portray the contradictory nature of our shared world while revealing the potential for transformative change.
2023-24 residency
Hosted by Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity, Institute for Diversity in the Arts as part of the Mellon Arts Fellowship Program
QUETZAL
El Centro Chicano y Latino is collaborating with Stanford Live on its annual Social Justice Commemoration at Stanford University. This year’s invited artists and performers are the Grammy award-winning band Quetzal, with a guest performance by longtime collaborator, scholar, and musician Dr. Alex E. Chavez. Quetzal is influenced by an East Los Angeles rock soundscape composed of Mexican ranchera, cumbia, salsa, rock, R&B, folk, and fusions of international music.
Performance April 13
Hosted by El Centro Chicano y Latino, Stanford Live
SANDY RODRIQUEZ
Sandy Rodriguez works at the intersections of history, social memory, and contemporary politics. Strongly influenced by both the 16th-century colonial Florentine Codex and present-day incidents along the U.S.-Mexico border and Western U.S., she maps the ongoing cycles of violence on communities of color by blending historical and recent events.
Artist talk April 11
Hosted by Cantor Arts Center, Center for Latin American Studies, Department of Art and Art History
HUANG RUO
Chinese-born American composer Huang Ruo has been called one of the world’s leading young composers and was formerly composer in residence at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. His new collaboration with puppeteer, designer, and director Basil Twist, Book of Mountains and Seas, is a modern take on ancient Chinese creation myths, first transcribed in the fourth century BC, yet strikingly relevant to the current struggle with climate change.
Performances April 6 & 7
Hosted by Stanford Live
SAN FRANCISCO BALLET
San Francisco Ballet returns to Starry Nights at Stanford Live with a full evening of repertory from classical to contemporary, showcasing the dynamic range of its impressive roster of dancers. The program includes Act II of Helgi Tomasson’s Swan Lake. This quintessential classical ballet features the visually stunning corps de ballet of swans and the tender White Swan pas de deux.
Performances July 26 & 27
Hosted by Stanford Live
SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY
The San Francisco Symphony exists to inspire and serve audiences and communities throughout the Bay Area and the world through the power of musical performance. At Stanford, it performs the music of John Williams’ most legendary film scores.
Concert July 20
Hosted by Stanford Live
SHUNSKE SATO
Shunske Sato is a violinist, equally at home as a soloist or an ensemble leader, whether on the baroque or modern violin. As a conductor, he works with both instrumental and vocal ensembles. At Stanford, he is the featured violinist with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra.
Performance April 12
Hosted by Stanford Live
ELIZABETH SCHUMANN
Pianist Elizabeth Schumann has a diverse career portfolio of performances, projects, and recordings. She performs Rhapsody in Blue, George Gershwin’s most famous composition, as part of Rob Kapilow’s What Makes It Great? series.
Performance April 25
Hosted by Stanford Live
SECOND MOON
Evoking Korean traditional pansori sounds mixed with Western instrumentals, Second Moon is a dynamic seven-member band that was formed in 2004. Its sound incorporates Irish whistle, bodhran, and mandolin to create a captivating fusion of musical styles.
Performance April 11
Hosted by Stanford Live
ABEL SELAOCOE
United Kingdom-based Manchester Collective and South African cellist Abel Selaocoe perform Sirocco, a celebration of folk traditions from around the world. Expect a bristling, high-energy performance with a program that weaves between African music, Danish folk songs, and classical music.
Performance April 13
Hosted by Stanford Live
PRAHLAD SINGH TIPANYA
Prahlad Singh Tipanya is an acclaimed folk singer from Lunyakhedi, a small village in Ujjain District, Madhya Pradesh. He is renowned for his singing and interpretation of Kabir and other Hindi poets associated with nirgun bhakti – devotion to a God or ultimate reality beyond word and form. The voice of mystic poet Kabir is often invoked to inspire communal harmony and social equality.
Concert May 3
Hosted by Center for South Asia
BURHAN SÖNMEZ
Turkish-born Burhan Sönmez is the author of six novels. He is president of PEN International and a Senior M48ember of Hughes Hall College and Trinity College, University of Cambridge. His novels have been translated into 48 languages and received international prizes, including the EBRD Literature Prize and Vaclav Havel Library Award. At Stanford, he will lecture on how literature brings people together with language and freedom and also allows for the opportunity to see people and society with new eyes.
Lecture April 22
Hosted by Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies, Department of Comparative Literature, Middle Eastern Studies Forum, Program on Turkey
ARTHUR SZE
Arthur Sze is a poet, translator, and editor and this year’s Mohr Visiting Poet. He is the author of 11 books of poetry, including The Glass Constellation: New and Collected Poems (2021); Sight Lines (2019), which won the National Book Award; and Compass Rose (2014), a Pulitzer Prize finalist.
2024 spring residency
Reading May 8
Hosted by Creative Writing Program as part of the Mohr Visiting Poets Program
AMARA TABOR SMITH
Amara Tabor Smith is an Oakland-based choreographer/performance maker who describes her work as Afro Futurist Conjure Art. Her dance-making practice utilizes Yoruba spiritual ritual to address issues of social and environmental justice, race, gender identity, and belonging. She is the artistic director of Deep Waters Dance Theater and was the co-artistic director of Headmistress, an ongoing performing collaboration with movement artist Sherwood Chen.
Ongoing residency
Hosted by Department of Theater and Performance Studies, Institute for Diversity in the Arts
TAJ MAHAL
For more than 40 years, Taj Mahal and bandmates Bill Rich and Kester Smith have taken blues on a joyride through reggae, funk, jazz, Cajun, and more, leaving a trail of swinging hips and raised palms in their wake. In 2019, the band added guitarist and lap steel virtuoso Bobby Ingano, and, more recently, a steel drum player soon to be named to round out the quintet.
Concert July 19
Hosted by Stanford Live
TAKÁCS QUARTET
The Takács Quartet was founded in 1975 in Budapest, Hungary. Today the renowned quartet – Edward Dusinberre and Harumi Rhodes, violins; Richard O’Neill, viola; and András Fejér, cello – captivates audiences with their innovative programming. A collaboration with bandoneón virtuoso Julien Labro features music from Labro, Dessner, Bach, Ravel, and more.
Performance April 21
Hosted by Stanford Live
BASIL TWIST
Basil Twist is a third-generation puppeteer and object theater artist, renowned for his visionary adaptations of opera, dance, and theater. His new collaboration with Chinese-born American composer Huang Ruo, Book of Mountains and Seas, is a modern take on ancient Chinese creation myths, first transcribed in the fourth century BC, yet strikingly relevant to the current struggle with climate change.
Performances April 6 & 7
Hosted by Stanford Live
TATIANA VAHAN
Tatiana Vahan is an artist, curator, researcher, and community organizer. She is the founder of the Los Angeles Artist Census and Bar-Fund, both artist-driven initiatives that address resource scarcity in Los Angeles county’s artist communities. At Stanford, she will participate in a conversation about alternative economies for artists in conjunction with the exhibition Day Jobs at the Cantor.
Conversation May 23
Hosted by Cantor Arts Center
LES VIOLONS DU ROY
Les Violons du Roy has been a focal point of Québec City’s musical life since it was founded by Bernard Labadie in 1984. The ensemble takes its name from the celebrated court orchestra of the French kings. With classical guitarist MILOŠ, Les Violons du Roy explores an expansive chamber orchestra repertoire with a skillful faithfulness to the period of each work. The Stanford performance features conductor David Belkovski.
Performance May 5
Hosted by Stanford Live
SAMANTHA ROSE WILLIAMS
Mezzo-soprano Samantha Rose Williams presents American Patriots, a theatrical song-cycle that captures the contemporary American zeitgeist from four vastly different perspectives: African American, Native American, New American, and white Working-Class American.
Performance May 5
Hosted by Department of Music
CHRISTINE WONG YAP
Christine Wong Yap is a visual artist and social practitioner specializing in hyperlocal participatory research projects that gather and amplify grassroots perspectives on belonging, resilience, and mental well-being.
2023-24 residency
Hosted by Cantor Arts Center, Office of the Vice President for the Arts, Residential Education
KIM YE
Kim Ye is a Chinese American artist whose research-based practice engages gendered constructions around power and the entanglement between public space and private desire.
2023-24 residency
Hosted by Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity, Institute for Diversity in the Arts as part of the Mellon Arts Fellowship Program
YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES
Young-hae Chang Heavy Industries is Young-hae Chang and Marc Voge. Based in Seoul, YHCHI have created a signature style of syncing original texts and music in English, Korean, and 24 other languages, showing many of them in major art institutions and biennials.
Lecture April 4
Student-only talk April 5
Hosted by Cantor Arts Center
